The Snow Child

As of this writing, The Snow Child has 536 reviews on Amazon. Not as many as most Stephen King novels get, I suppose, but that's still a pretty good indicator of its popularity. It seems to be getting less love and attention in the genre discussion arena, perhaps because it was marketed as "literature" rather than "fantasy." Too bad, because this is a great novel.

Eowyn Ivey (so whimsically named by her parents after a Lord of the Rings character) is a first-time novelist, but you would never know it. Her characters are well-defined and well-rounded, distinct without being cartoony. The descriptions are—well, not lush, exactly, since this is set in Alaska, but broad and rich. She clearly loves taking her time with a story, but the novel doesn't feel too long once you've put it down. I'm clearly having a hard time saying something bad about The Snow Child.

The only problem I had was the lack of revelation about the snow child's true nature. There are two conflicting origins suggested, and both seem indisputable in their own right. I thought the reader was owed more of an explanation than was given, but maybe that's just the nature of the magical realist genre.

Buy it. Read it. Put on something warm, and snuggle up to the woodstove. Keep an eye out for the snow, because you never know who might be flitting about in it.